


Goodbyes are the Hardest

by randomfandom0817



Series: Unofficially Stark [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Very angst, endgame ending warning, im sorry, infinity war ending warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-07 17:24:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20313244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomfandom0817/pseuds/randomfandom0817
Summary: What happens when you go on that circle space-ship with Tony and Peter? What happens when Steve finds out you were a victim of Thanos's destruction?





	1. Chapter 1

Not long after Steve and Tony’s fight, Tony proposed to Pepper. You were beyond happy for the both of them, glad Tony finally got up the courage to stop worrying about the right time and place, and just propose. Of course, this meant you were sucked back into the world of wedding planning, as a member of the wedding party. 

Pepper and Tony were out for their morning jog, so you decided to do some routine maintenance to your suit. Glancing out the window, you saw a giant circle in the sky and cars being thrown in the street. You sighed and called the nanobots to you. 

“FRIDAY, location on Tony?”

_ “He’s three blocks away. I should warn you, Mr. Parker is there, too.” _

“What? Are you kidding me?” You groaned, taking off towards Tony’s location. “I love that kid, but he needs to stay on his freaking field trip.”

Over the past few months, you and Tony had gotten quite close to Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. You both felt overprotective over the kid. And if you weren’t more concerned with Tony doing something dumb, you’d probably drag him back to his school bus and force him to have fun at the Met.

You spotted Tony flying upwards to the giant circle in the sky. You sighed and made your way up towards him. 

“Anthony Stark!”

“(Y/N)? What the hell are you doing here?” he asked you through the comms, still flying upwards. 

“What you thought I’d let you go hang out on a giant space donut alone? You’re truly an idiot. Pepper would kill me.”

“He’s not alone, he has me,” Peter chimed in.

You looked up and saw him hanging on to someone being dragged upwards. 

“Holy shit! Kid, you should’ve stayed on your damn bus!” You sped up to help Tony get to Peter. “Tones, he’s not going to be able to breathe,” you warned, starting to worry more about the boy.

“I know, I know. Friday, unlock 17:A.” Tony turned to Peter. “Pete, you gotta let go. I’ll catch you.”

“But you said save the wizard!” He pulled off his mask, gasping for air. You sighed. 

“Fri, a little boost.” You sped up and flew next to Peter. “Peter, you gotta let go. It’s too high up here. You’re running out of air.”

“Okay, yeah, makes sense.”

“You gotta let go. It’ll be okay.”

He finally let go, and the suit Tony had designed for him caught him, encasing him and allowing him to properly breathe. 

“Whoa.”

“Okay, now get out of here,” you said. “Tony and I got this. Friday?”

_ “Yep.” _

The AI released a parachute, taking him away from the spaceship. You flew next to Tony, looking for a way in.

When you and Tony landed on the ship, you stuck to the rafters. You followed Tony as he snuck along, both of you removing your helmets. Tony’s eyes were scanning the ship, almost like he was searching for something.

“So, what are we looking for?”

“Not a what. Who. He’s a wizard, has a stone that the aliens want.”

“Gonna pretend that isn’t a weird statement.” You looked around. “Well, we’re definitely in space now.”

“It’s cool, though.”

“Peter!”

“What the hell are you doing here, kid?” Tony asked, rounding on him.

“I-I’m sorry, but I just, I couldn’t let you do this alone.”

You sighed, rubbing your forehead. “Fine. Fine. Not much we can do about it now.”

Before you knew what was happening, a battle broke out and the ship crashed on another planet. Then you were immediately launched into a standoff with another group of people. Personalities clashed between the group you met and the quartet of you, Tony, Peter, and Stephen Strange, as the man had introduced himself. Perhaps this clash of personalities is the reason why when Thanos came, things went downhill.

The fighting was uncoordinated, with no one taking suggestions from anyone. When Peter Quill realized his girlfriend was missing, he went berserk. Understandably, of course, you couldn’t blame him. Even then, you were sure if the same thing happened to Steve, you would react the same. Inevitably, though, Thanos got away. 

You looked, to Tony, panicked. “Vision,” you said. “He’s- the stone. What happens if he get to Vision?”

Tony’s eyes widened. “Oh, we’re screwed. Unless Cap can pull things together without us.”

“Mr. Stark?” Peter said, looking at Tony. “Mr. Stark, something’s happening.”

The two of you looked around and saw the people around you starting to disintegrate to dust. Peter collapsed against Tony, trying to grip to the front of the suit. Before you knew it, he’d turned to dust.

You looked down at your hands, seeing the same thing happening to you. “Tony…”


	2. Chapter 2

Tony was distraught, starving, dehydrated, and running out of oxygen. But he wasn’t alone. He had Nebula, Thanos’s daughter who was just as bent on fixing what her father did as everyone else. He grew rather fond of her as they drifted aimlessly through space, both knowing but not acknowledging what was going to happen. 

Tony sent what he thought would be his last message to Pepper before he fell asleep. He was able to wrestle his mind into being okay with what was about to happen. 

Only, what was going to happen, didn’t happen. Tony and Nebula were saved by a woman who later introduced herself as Carol. She brought them back to earth. When they landed and Tony was escorted out by Nebula, quickly changing into Steve’s arms before Pepper pushed her way through to reach him. He all-but collapsed into her arms, not wanting to let her go. Before long, Tony was ushered inside, where he was examined and hooked up to IV bags, and told to rest. But then Steve opened his mouth. Tony rubbed his temple, listening to Steve prattle on for a while before his stood up. 

“You know what, Rogers? You weren’t there. I said we’d lose, you said we’d do that together. Well, guess what? We lost, and you weren’t there. No trust. Liar.”

“Tony, sit down,” Rhodey gently told him. “You’re sick.”

“You know that’s not the worst part of it? I lost the kid, Steve. I lost (Y/N).”

Steve froze. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. He looked at Natasha, seeking some guidance. 

Natasha knelt next to the chair Tony was in, gently gripping his hand. “We’ll get her back. We’ll get them all back. We just have to find him.”

They did find him, but things didn’t go so well. The stones had been destroyed, there was no turning things back. They were stuck.

* * *

Nothing happened for five years. For five years, Natasha ran things from the Avengers headquarters while the others searched for a way to reverse what happened, and while Rhodey looked for Clint. Steve spent the time, well, moping. He’d lost almost everyone he cared about. He lost Sam and Bucky. He lost you. He lost Tony’s trust and friendship.

Tony had found a way to move on. He and Pepper bought a cabin by a lake way upstate, and they even had a daughter, named Morgan. She was everything to him, she was the light of his life. 

One day when he went to collect her from her fort for lunch, he was thrown off. She had found the helmet from the first suit he ever made you. 

“Where’d you find that?” Tony asked her, scooping her up.

“Garage.”

“The garage?”

“Uh-huh. Found it in a box with my middle name on it.”

“Hmm. Well, you can’t eat grilled cheese through that helmet, so how about I take it back to the box?”

“Okay!” Tony set her down and took the helmet, sighing as he looked at the old design. He tucked it under his arm and brought it back to the garage, stuffing it back in the box. He decided to move to box to a higher shelf. 

* * *

Everything was going perfectly fine in Tony’s life, until Steve decided to crash at his house. Steve and Scott Lang decided to hound Tony about the possibilities of time travel.

Morgan ran up to Tony and hugged around his waist. “Mommy said you needed me to save you from your friends,” she said. 

Tony smiled and picked her up, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Well, your mommy’s a smart woman. Let’s head inside, yeah?”

“Tony, please,” Steve said, reaching for him. “This could be our second chance.”

Tony shook his head, tightening his grip on Morgan. “My second chance is right here, Cap. I can’t do anything to risk it.”

“Not even for-”

“No, Steve. Not even for her. I can’t lose this- what I have here. And before you try guilt-tripping me, yes, I do miss her. So much. But I can’t sacrifice losing this.”

  
  


Later that night, he was sitting up with Pepper, tapping away on his tablet. Pepper sighed, closing her book. 

“Okay. What’s going on?”

“What?”

“Why are you all mopey all the sudden?”

Tony shut off the tablet and turned to face Pepper. “I miss her, Pep. I miss (Y/N). And Peter. But I don’t want to risk losing what we have here.”

Pepper looked over his face. “Would you be able to rest, Tony? If you stop, would you be able to rest?”

Tony sighed. “You’re right. You’re always right.”

“I know,” Pepper smiled, kissing Tony’s hairline. “That’s why you gave the company over to me.”

Tony smiled as he watched her walk up the steps to their bedroom. He pushed himself up from the couch and walked over to his desk, messing with some equations. He changed a few numbers before rubbing his hand over his face. 

“Shit!”

“Shit,” Tony heard a small voice mimic. 

He spun around to see Morgan spying on him from the steps. “Oh, no, don’t say that word, Mommy copyrighted that word. She owns that word.” He walked over to where Morgan was, bending down next to her. “So, why are you up?”

“Juice pops.”

Tony smiled at his daughter. “Juice pops it is, then.”

* * *

Tony parked in front of the Avengers compound, moving around to the trunk when Steve walked over to him. 

“Changed my mind,” Tony said. “I’ll help you. Got something for you.” He handed Steve a shield. “You lose it, I take it back.”

Steve smiled. “Got it. We’re working on gathering everyone, but we’re having trouble figuring out how to make it work.”

“Well, I guess it’s good I changed my mind, because I cracked it. Let’s get going, figure out where we need to be.”

* * *

After a lot of discussion, they realized they only needed to go to three different places. Tony, Steve, Scott, and Bruce would go to New York, Thor and Rocket were going to Asgard, while Natasha, Clint, Rhodey, and Nebula were going space. Hopefully, it would just be in and out, nothing gets messed up. But plans never go that way, do they?

Steve, Tony, and Scott were sneaking along Stark Tower, when it was still Stark Tower, trying to figure out how to grab Loki’s scepter from SHIELD. They were talking about splitting up when Steve froze.

“Cap? Captain?” Scott called from his place on Steve’s shoulder.

Tony looked to where Steve’s gaze had fallen, and sighed. “Steve, you know we can’t talk to her. We can’t mess up the timeline.”

“I’m sorry, I’m confused,” Scott said. “Who is this woman?”

“The love of my life,” Steve said, watching you bustle around with the other agents. 

“She’s also my not-quite-adopted sister. We grew up together, she spent more time at my home than her own.”

“Wait, who is that?” Steve asked, gripping Tony’s arm.

Tony looked over to where you were kissing another agent. “Oh, that’s right, she was still dating Charlie in 2012.” He looked over at Steve. “Come on, we have to go. Get done and get home, that’s our goal.”

* * *

“Peter!” you said when you felt yourself come back to your body. “Oh, my god, are you alright? Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, just confused. Where’s Mr. Stark?”

Doctor Strange walked over to the two of you, gathering the rest of the people around you. “Look, I don’t have much time to explain. But we’ve been essentially dead for the past 5 years. And now there’s going to be a huge fight. They may not win with us, but they’ll definitely fail without us.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going, Wizard.”

Everything after that was a blur. There were hundreds of people on your side, fighting against Thanos and his army of aliens. You remembered finding Pepper in the crowd and searching out Tony with her. You found him and dropped by him, receding your suit to go to what you knew best: hand-to-hand and classic weaponry.

“Hey, stupid-head.”

“Oh, my god, (Y/N),” Tony said. “If I wasn’t worried for my life, I’d hug you.”

“Same here,” you said, shooting one of your attackers. “Let’s squash this grape for good this time.”

Over the course of the battle, you and Tony were separated. You were doing fine, holding your own, until you felt something zip passed you, lodging itself in the second alien coming to attack you. You whirled around to see Steve standing there, face dirty and bloody. 

“Thanks,” you huffed. When he walked passed you to collect his shield, he let his hand linger over yours for just a second. You watched him as he reclaimed his shield before taking off. You shook your head and ran back into the thick of the fight, where everyone had started playing hot potato with the gauntlet.

It got passed to you, and you ran towards Tony, but got knocked down. The gauntlet got passed to one of Thanos’s warriors and you groaned, going to push yourself up. 

“Want some help up?”

You looked up to see Bucky Barnes holding his flesh hand out to you. You grabbed his hand and let him pull you up. 

“Thanks.”

“3 o’clock!” 

You spun around and fired, knocking down a warrior. “Thanks again.” You looked over to where Tony had gotten a hold of the gauntlet. Everything seemed to slow down as he raised his hand, revealing the gems on his suit. Then he snapped his fingers. 

“No, no, no,” you said, taking off in a run. “Move!” you yelled, pushing someone, you were pretty sure it was Steve, out of your way. You dropped down in front of him, not caring about the rocks skinning your knees. Pepper was holding a crying Peter to her chest. “Tony? Tony, Tones, hey, it’s me. It’s (Y/N). Tony.”

“(Y/N),” Rhodey said, gently setting his hands on your shoulder. 

You shook your head. “No. There’s gotta- there’s gotta be something we can do. We can save him. We can…” You looked at Pepper, and you knew there was nothing that could be done. You broke. You sat on the ground and cried. You felt Rhodey’s armor-covered hands leave you, and felt warm hands replace him. You turned around, a bit surprised to see Steve. You leaned into his chest, crying against him. Steve rubbed your back gently, placing a kiss on top of your head.

* * *

Tony’s funeral was small, only those closest to him were allowed to attend. You noticed something was off, though.

“Clint?” you said, walking over to him before the funeral actually started. “Where’s Natasha?” His face fell and he looked down, shaking his head. “Clint?”

“She sacrificed herself for the stone. It should have been me. I should’ve been the one to-”

You cut him off by attacking him in a hug. He wrapped his arms around you, squeezing you tight.

“(Y/N)?” Pepper said. “There’s someone I want you to meet.” You turned around to see Pepper holding a small child. She set her down, looking over at you. “This is Morgan. Morgan (Y/N) Stark.”

You smiled, huffing out a laugh. “Tony, the sentimental sap. Hi, Morgan.”

She looked at you, slightly nervous. “You’re my Auntie (Y/N)? Daddy talked about you a lot.”

You smiled. “Well, it’s lovely to finally meet you, Morgan. Just wish it was under better circumstances.” You looked around and spotted a familiar figure, smiling just a little. “Hey, Keener! You’re gonna come all this way from Tennessee and not say hi?”

Harley turned around and walked over to you. “Hi, (Y/N). Missed you.”

“Missed you too,” you said, hugging him. “You need to stop growing. You’re taller than me now, it’s not fair.”

Harley laughed and let you go. “Bet I’d be taller than Tony.”

“Nah, that’s a sucker’s bet, I’m not taking that.” You looked over to where Steve was, his eyes on you. 

“He looks like he’s still in love with you, (Y/N/N).”

You shook your head. “He hurt me too much, Harls. I can’t start things up with him again, I’ll just be reminded that he lied.”

* * *

You stood at the edge of the lake with Pepper, Morgan, and Happy, watching as Tony’s “heart” drifted off. You felt yourself about to cry again, and wiped your eyes. You felt a tug on your arm and looked down at Morgan. You smiled a bit, picking her up at her request. Maybe life would still be okay.

As you looked out at the water, you heard someone walk up next to you.

“I’m sorry.”

You turned around to see Bucky. 

“What?”

“I’m sorry. For what I did to you and Stark. I’m so sorry.”

You smiled at him sadly, shaking your head. “I forgave you a while ago, Sergeant Barnes. It wasn’t you. Tony forgave you too, you know.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. Took us both a while, but yeah. You’re good in our books.”

* * *

Steve was tasked with returning the stones to the proper timelines. Before he left, he looked to the cabin where you were sitting on the porch, playing with a dollhouse with Morgan. He sighed and adjusted his grip on the briefcase. “Okay, Bruce,” he said. “I’m ready.”

Bruce sent Steve back, and kept his hand hovering over the panel. “Okay, bringing him back in 3… 2… 1!”

Nothing happened. 

“Wait, where is he?” Sam asked. 

“I-I don’t know. He missed the landing spot.” Bruce tapped on the machine. 

“Sam,” Bucky said, nodding to the bench by the lake. 

Sam walked over, finding a much older Steve looking out at the water. He sat down next to him, looking at the lake with him. “You stayed back?”

“Yeah. Got one of those lives everyone’s been raving about.”

Sam laughed, glancing over at Steve. “So, you gonna tell me about it?”

“No, I don’t think I will.”

* * *

You were tossing stones into the lake, finally letting everything that’s happened since the first fight with Thanos register in your mind. You threw another rock, watching it splash and the resulting ripples.

“Agent (Y/L/N),” you heard Fury say from behind you. 

“Not an agent anymore, Nick. SHIELD broke down, remember?”

You heard Nick sigh and walk a bit closer. “I have a preposition for you.”

“Oh, that’s never a good thing.”

“I want you to head up the New Avengers Initiative, with Captain Wilson.”

You sighed and threw another rock. “Can’t I just live with my niece and sister-in-law in peace? I mean, my brother died, my ex-fiance went back in time, probably got back with his ex because what candle do I hold to Margaret Carter, and my best friend sacrificed herself on some alien planet, oh, and I was dead for five years.”

The grass next to you rustled and glancing over, you saw Fury had sat down next to you. “It’s a lot to take in, I know,” Fury said. “And we’re not starting up the new team right away, we have a lot of PR stuff to handle right now, as well as rebuilding SHIELD. And you wouldn’t have to spend all your time with the New Avengers. You’d be free to come back here with Ms. Potts whenever you wanted.”

You chewed on your lip, tossing another rock. “I’ll think about it. But as of right now, my answer is no. I missed four years of Morgan’s life because of Thanos, I don’t want to miss any more.”

Fury nodded and stood up. “Understandable. Just think about it.”

You rested your chin on your knees, letting your eyes go unfocused. You don’t know how long you stayed that way, but you stopped when someone else sat next to you. 

“Oh. Hi, Barnes,” you said, picking a long blade of grass and twirling it in your hands. 

“Bucky.”

You smiled just a bit. “Hi, Bucky. Congrats on being Cap’s new sidekick.”

Bucky smiled and nudged your arm. “Thanks. So, you joining us? Being our new Iron Man?”

“I don’t know,” you said. “Still dealing with the fact I was Steve’s second choice after Peggy.”

“What?” Bucky turned his body to face you. “(Y/N), he didn’t go back to Peggy. Well, he went back to dance with her for, like, ten minutes. But he went back to before you were even a couple. He told you the truth, you know, what I did. He split into a different timeline. He went back to be with  _ you _ . You were never his second choice.”

You looked out at the water. “I should go talk to him, shouldn’t I? Say goodbye?”

“Probably. But no one’s going to push you to do it. Everyone knows, goodbyes are the hardest things to say. And this is a pretty big goodbye. You’re ending a huge part of your life. Turning to a new page.”

“A new page,” you repeated. “You know, maybe I will become a full-fledged Avenger. Be the new Tony.” You smiled, looking up at the sunset. “I think he’d be proud of that. Maybe I’ll legally become a Stark.” You laughed a little at the thought. “(Y/N) Stark. Officially.”


End file.
